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Britain's spy agency honours codebreaker Turing in giant artwork - "Britain's GCHQ spy agency has installed a giant multicoloured artwork to celebrate codebreaker and mathemetician Alan Turing, who helped turn the tide of World War Two against Nazi Germany but was persecuted for being gay." (previously) [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 11:54 PM - 0 comments

Teen Vogue Presents GLAAD's 20 Under 20 2021: The LGBTQ Youth Shaping the Future [Teen Vogue] Single page with photos and bios. Quite a group of young people!
posted by hippybear at 9:58 PM - 0 comments

Is 2021 the year that the world finally catches up with Sparks, the weirdly wonderful, inventive, cheeky, and genre-spanning pop band formed by brothers Ron and Russell Mael in 1967? All signs point to yes. The Sparks Brothers, a new documentary by Edgar Wright, has been released to strongly favorable reviews (NY Times; LA Times; Rotten Tomatoes). And the musical film Annette — starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, with songs and screenplay written by the Mael brothers — will debut at Cannes on July 6, with a U.S. release later this summer. [more inside]
posted by lisa g at 8:16 PM - 12 comments

One Youtuber's trip into, and then out of, Youtube's alt-right ecosystem. (SLYT)
posted by clawsoon at 7:49 PM - 3 comments

John McAfee found dead in Spanish prison hours after his extradition to the US was approved. NPR story. Newsweek: "Know that if I hang myself, a la Epstein, it will be no fault of mine." TMZ: He has "died by suicide." Cracked (#1): "John McAfee is famous for the software that bears his name: McAfee antivirus, aka 'HOW DO I UNINSTALL THIS PIECE OF SHIT!!!' antivirus." Metafilter 2012a. Metafilter 2012b. Metafilter 2013a. Metafilter 2013b. Metafilter 2016, which contains one of my favorite all-time Metafilter comments, it made me laugh hysterically for some reason. Metafilter 2020.
posted by Melismata at 3:30 PM - 59 comments

On July 1, celebratory Canada Day events are typically held across the country. This year, after the discovery of the remains of 215 Indigenous children at a former residential school in Kamloops, BC, and the deadly attack on a Muslim family in Ontario, the Toronto Star asks Indigenous and Muslim community members, “Should Canada Day be a point of celebration? Or a day of mourning and sombre reflection?” This is not a new question; once again, Idle No More reminds us that “Canada remains a country that has built its foundation on the erasure and genocide of Indigenous nations.” Victoria, BC has already cancelled its planned Canada Day celebrations, as have a growing number of other cities and towns across Canada. [more inside]
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:25 PM - 23 comments

for 28 years in late night, you talk to someone, you do six minutes, you break, music, then you come back, you do another seven or eight minutes, you’re looking for the funny line to get out Whatever the medium is, what’s the format where I get to still be a kid? If there’s one message you take away from this, it’s that late-night comedy has kept me childlike, but the trick to that is you have to keep changing it up and keep looking for the next iteration and keep looking for the next format and keep looking for the new outlet.
posted by mecran01 at 12:53 PM - 30 comments

Electric Vehicles Won’t Save Us. "Cars, however they’re powered, are environmentally cataclysmic, break the tethers of community, and force an infrastructure of dependency that is as financially ruinous to our country as it is dangerous to us as people."
posted by Lyme Drop at 11:30 AM - 79 comments

A profile of champion cyclist Primož Roglič who “used to be nobody—a failed ski jumper, a college dropout, a janitor, a dreamer,” written by former internet phenom and architecture critic Kate Wagner: “I’m in this process of changing careers. I write mostly about architecture and design, but I started to get tired of it. Once I discovered writing about cycling, I was like, ‘Whoa, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.’ I guess I’m kind of in the process of quitting ski jumping of my own right now.”
posted by stopgap at 10:42 AM - 9 comments

Why You Procrastinate. It has nothing to do with self-control or time-management.
posted by storybored at 8:00 AM - 57 comments

Jonathan McDowell is an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Since 1989, he has self-published Jonathan's Space Report, a monthly free web-based newsletter that recaps launches of satellites, reentries and launches of manned spacecraft, and other recent spaceflight activity. [more inside]
posted by fizzix at 7:50 AM - 3 comments

India Walton claims upset in Buffalo mayoral race (from the Buffalo News): Speaking with reporters late Tuesday, Walton was asked if she considers herself to be a socialist. Her response: "Oh, absolutely. The entire intent of this campaign is to draw down power and resources to the ground level and into the hands of the people." [more inside]
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 6:41 AM - 28 comments

A collection of photographs and words celebrating the complexities of motherhood and fatherhood (via Kottke).
posted by Stark at 5:33 AM - 3 comments

To the Last Man was a 2008 gay pornographic western (title taken from the 1921 novel by Zane Grey) with a budget of about US $200,000. Dan Cardone wrote about working as a grip on the production, which featured numerous action sequences, real guns and live ammunition, and the deaths of all but one of the characters (YT death montage, CW: one shirtless dude, many graphic and ridiculous murders, 144p -- does not contain any actual porn). [more inside]
posted by automatic cabinet at 3:06 AM - 14 comments

Story with a happier ending and a lot of hard-case humor on Radio NZ this morning, essentially two mates went off the rails big time and discovered yoghurt-making in jail while viewing a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall show. That's it really but well worth reading to the end about the yoghurt mafia.
posted by unearthed at 1:49 AM - 8 comments

A second very light sampling of communities holding Pride events for the first time this year: Aniwa, MI; Emporia, KS; Lincoln, NE; St Clair County, MI [photo essay]; Hamilton, OH; Isle Of Man
posted by hippybear at 9:57 PM - 2 comments

Anheuser-Busch contributed more than $35,000 to 29 legislators it described as anti-LGBTQ+ between 2015 and 2020. “You can’t turn your logo rainbow on social media, call yourself an ally, and then turn around and make donations that fuel hate,” Lentz said in a statement. “There are really no excuses, and companies like Anheuser-Busch need to own up to what they’ve done.”
posted by folklore724 at 6:18 PM - 34 comments

Britney Spears Quietly Pushed for Years to End Her Conservatorship "Her father and others involved in the conservatorship maintained that it was a smooth-running machine that had rescued her from a low point and benefited Spears, and that she could move to end it whenever she wanted. All the while, she stayed largely silent on the subject in public. But now, confidential court records obtained by The New York Times reveal that Spears, 39, expressed serious opposition to the conservatorship earlier and more often than had previously been known, and said that it restricted everything from whom she dated to the color of her kitchen cabinets." [more inside]
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:16 PM - 33 comments

From the "be careful what you wish for" files: journalist Lee O. Sanderlin suggested a penalty for coming in last in the fantasy football league he participated in - 24 hours in a Waffle House. Which was a lark - up until he wound up being the one sentenced to Waffle Hell. [more inside]
posted by NoxAeternum at 5:21 PM - 59 comments

Hardliner Ebrahim Raisi elected Iran’s new president. Who is him?
In continuity with Trump policies, after 6 rounds of talks the US refused to remove Iran sanctions. US government also seized the .com domain of Iran’s Press TV and two other media outlets. Internet users can still visit Press TV using the Iranian domain.
posted by - at 1:10 PM - 22 comments

In what is hoped to become a model for other historic sites, the descendants of enslaved persons at James Madison's estate, Montpelier, will be co-equals in sharing governing power and responsibility for the site.
posted by jedicus at 12:19 PM - 5 comments

Usually when a tornado comes through, the path of destruction is more haphazard. It can sometimes look like the vortex drops down and picks up one house but leaves the neighbor’s untouched, or will tear a roof off here but not there. This wasn’t like that. Everything around as far as the eye could see to the east and to the west, was flattened. Flatter than hammered shit. [more inside]
posted by latkes at 11:45 AM - 37 comments

"At the beginning of a traditional planner, there’s usually an overview of the current year, and sometimes there’s an overview of the next. Looking at these grids, seeing today in the context of many days, I am soothed; looking at the future log of a bullet journal, in which all but the most important dates are unrepresented, I am at sea. Bullet journals work when you don’t feel the need to construct a clear vision of what’s ahead." [more inside]
posted by antihistameme at 8:24 AM - 85 comments

Chris Jones is a physicist and a nuclear engineer. He’s also just announced he’s running for Governor of Arkansas. This is his campaign ad: It’s about time.
posted by Mchelly at 8:18 AM - 37 comments

On the fiftieth anniversary of the release of Joni Mitchell's Blue, the NYT talks to 25 musicians about the work countless critics have pointed to as a definitive masterpiece of the confessional singer-songwriter album. [more inside]
posted by Nerd of the North at 3:17 AM - 44 comments

"World Journey of My Memory or Journey of the Heart (世界わが心の旅 , Sekai Waga Kokoro no Tabi) was a travel program that was broadcast on NHK BS2 Television from 1993 to 2003. The series featured celebrities from various fields visiting places that shaped who they are as individuals. [...] [Two episodes] featured Studio Ghibli cofounders Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki. In the first program, Miyazaki visits France and the Sahara Desert to follow the footsteps of the famous early French aviator, poet, and author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The second episode centers around Takahata's visit to Canada to meet the late Frédéric Back, the Oscar award winning animation film maker of The Man Who Planted Trees." [more inside]
posted by Iridic at 11:50 PM - 1 comment

Scientists Have Created A New Gene-Editing Tool That Could Outperform CRISPR - "It is faster and simpler than CRISPR, enabling millions of genetic experiments to be performed simultaneously." [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 10:49 PM - 9 comments

June 21, 2021 -- Carl Nassib Is The First Active NFL Player To Come Out As Gay [NPR] Page includes embedded Instagram video which is playable in-window, and has arrows that point to text. Congrats Carl! Thank you, and nothing but the best on this new chapter of your journey! [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 9:56 PM - 19 comments

John Paragon, best known for his role as Jambi the Genie on the television series “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” has died. He was 66. Paragon was a member of the Groundlings improv troupe in LA where he worked alongside other future stars such as Paul Reubens (Pee-wee Herman), Phil Hartman, and Cassandra Peterson (Elvira). Pee-wee and Elvira posted farewells to John recently after learning the news.
posted by JoeZydeco at 6:27 PM - 18 comments

Every Pixar Movie, Ranked [The Ringer], or All 24 Pixar Movies, Ranked [Vulture] [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 3:56 PM - 55 comments

California man arrested for allegedly stealing 42,000lb of pistachios (SLGuardian). [more inside]
posted by ec2y at 2:05 PM - 44 comments

In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court has upheld the the Ninth Circuit's ruling that the NCAA's restrictions on paid educational benefits violate antitrust law. [more inside]
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:10 AM - 93 comments

There were no politicians or corporate sponsors when the first Pride parade rolled through San Francisco on June 25, 1972. Spirit Of 1972: Photos from the first S.F. Pride parade [San Francisco Chronicle]
posted by hippybear at 9:55 PM - 9 comments

Something really good is happening next month. A celebration of the expanded Child Tax Credit in the American Recovery Plan, and a plea to make it permanent. "Children cost money, but a market economy does not magically allocate extra money to the parents of children relative to non-parents. In fact, it is somewhat more challenging to earn money when you have a kid because they impose logistical barriers to working. As a result, unless the government provides parents with extra money, the living standards of families with young children will be systematically lower than those of the childless. That’s one important reason why the poverty rate for children is so much higher than the poverty rate for adults." [more inside]
posted by russilwvong at 5:35 PM - 16 comments

The prestigious institution has tied itself in knots over a dispute involving one of its most popular—and controversial—professors, Amy Chua. The question has arisen, in online comments sections and on Twitter, why anyone is even talking about Amy Chua. Who cares about a parenting memoirist’s removal from a law-school teaching roster? The answer is, in part, because this story manages to touch on seemingly every single cultural flashpoint of the past few years. Chua’s critics see a story about #MeToo—because of her husband, but also because Chua supported the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, even after he was accused of sexual assault. Meanwhile, Chua’s defenders see a morality tale about liberal cancel culture. “What they’ve done to you is SOP”—standard operating procedure—“for conservative allies but chills me to the bone nonetheless,” a supporter tweeted at her, earlier this month. Megyn Kelly weighed in, tweeting, “Make no mistake: this is retribution for her support of Brett Kavanaugh, & it is disgusting.” Chua’s allies have also suggested that anti-Asian bias is involved. “The woke academy reserves a special vitriol for minority faculty who don’t toe the line politically,” Niall Ferguson, a historian, tweeted.
posted by folklore724 at 3:21 PM - 81 comments

The term “smooth” effectively erases any point of reference. Even as an adjective, “smooth” functions as a verb: It is the buffing out of character, the sanding down of the distinctions that make great spirits great. In the quest to triangulate the specific qualities of a spirit, “smooth” instead forms a binary of acceptability. It is a value judgment on whether or not one finds the spirit drinkable, one that can easily be impressed upon an unwitting consumer. This is exactly why the term is so ubiquitous in the marketplace, and—for decades, if not centuries—a red flag among connoisseurs. From Let’s Talk About “Smooth” by Danny Chau
posted by chavenet at 10:38 AM - 103 comments

Combinators and the Story of Computation - "The idea of representing things in a formal, symbolic way has a long history... But was there perhaps some more general and fundamental infrastructure: some kind of abstract system that could ultimately model or represent anything? Today we understand that's what computation is. And it's becoming clear that the modern conception of computation is one of the single most powerful ideas in all of intellectual history—whose implications are only just beginning to unfold. But how did we finally get to it? Combinators had an important role to play, woven into a complex tapestry of ideas stretching across more than a century." (also btw The Nature of Computation previously) [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 2:23 AM - 27 comments

It's Been A Minute with Sam Sanders breaks out of its usual form and talks to Sarah Schulman ACT UP: A History Of AIDS/HIV Activism [50m]. Transcript sadly not available, but some quotes from the interview on the page. [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 9:54 PM - 11 comments

Dear Intern is trending on Twitter after HBO Max put out this statement claiming that yes, it was the intern who accidentally sent this integration test email to... seemingly everyone on the internet, judging by the reaction. [more inside]
posted by taquito sunrise at 8:05 PM - 44 comments

Jane Gilbert, who worked for many years on the city’s climate resilience initiatives, is the first person to hold a position of this kind in the world. Cities are known as “urban heat islands,” meaning they’re significantly warmer than other settlements because of the way they’re constructed, with buildings and roads absorbing heat and then reemitting it. “We’re just roasting people in cities,” Baughman McLeod says. Many of Gilbert’s prospective initiatives are based around design. She mentions installing cool pavements and roofs by using materials that reflect sunlight to drive down temperatures, and enhancing shade along pavements with tree canopies so people can walk, bike, and wait at bus stops that will feel 20 to 45 degrees cooler (which will also help encourage the use of public transportation instead of individually air-conditioned cars).
posted by folklore724 at 2:49 PM - 48 comments

“'There is no nationally recognized moment where this country takes a pause and says, you know what, this country enslaved people, broke up families, in perpetuity for generations. Juneteenth is becoming a time when the country can do that,' [Dr. Brian] Purnell told BuzzFeed News." But before it was signed into law as a federal holiday, Black communities in different parts of the country have been recognizing Juneteenth since 1866: Photos Of How People Celebrated Juneteenth 100 Years Ago.
posted by taz at 11:19 AM - 5 comments

Neutrinowatch broadcasts daily from a series of parallel timelines which have 32% (± 7%) in common with our own reality. In an innovative new fictional podcast from Answer Me This!'s Martin Austwick, episodes are updated every day and can be re-downloaded and streamed daily for a slightly modified user experience. [more inside]
posted by low_horrible_immoral at 6:35 AM - 13 comments

From the Los Angeles Review Of Books comes a long read in three parts by Michael Nava: Creating A Literary Culture: A Short, Selective, and Incomplete History of LGBT Publishing. Part I - Out from the Shadows: Beginning, 1940–1980, Part II - The Golden Age (1980–1995), Part III - Picking Up the Pieces: Queer Publishing Now [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 9:52 PM - 5 comments

As it turns out, 2021 may be a good year for Noctilucent Clouds after all. [more inside]
posted by y2karl at 5:22 PM - 14 comments

Based on the same 3 second model, 2400 CGI artists submitted their own interpretation. These are the 100 best. (SLYT)
posted by jontyjago at 2:29 PM - 40 comments

Rosalie Abella is set to retire from the Supreme Court of Canada on July 1. Rosalie Abella was the architect of a number of advances in Canadian jurisprudence, including an influential report on employment equity and extending pension benefits to same-sex spouses. Previously
posted by jacquilynne at 7:56 AM - 8 comments

A browser-based 'game' with a cool vibe Not so sure about the AI-generated haikus, but the aesthetic and mood are peaceful.
posted by domdib at 5:13 AM - 18 comments

Verb is a very good boy and goes heckin' fast to win the 2021 20-inch class and Masters Champions title (SLYT).
posted by Harald74 at 4:34 AM - 27 comments

Like the rational reorganization of bureaucracies in the second half of the nineteenth century, computers began as an implementation of the power to abstract away means and uniformly apply a mindless, rule-based order on unruly reality ... and this power has only grown greater, thanks to both an unprecedented capacity for data gathering and analysis and the increased propagation of digital tools in every facet of human life. Mobile applications, whatever their purpose, are little bureaucrats with a checklist or a punch card in our pockets. Whether they are centralized or distributed, deployed by the government or peddled by a small startup, the applications have the same effect: an increasing perfection of the totalitarian vision of nineteenth-century administration. from Paul Valéry and the Mechanisms of Modern Tyranny [Hedgehog Review] [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 4:07 AM - 13 comments

It's not illegal to traffic icing sugar. [more inside]
posted by freethefeet at 3:46 AM - 31 comments